Horror movies aren't only for getting into the Halloween spirit. If the idea of Shudder, a horror- and thriller-centric video streaming service, keeps your interest, nothing is stopping you from using it all year. With a subscription to the AMC Networks-backed service, you get access to an expansive, on-demand library of shows and movies, some of which are original productions and exclusives. The best part is that Shudder presents everything without ads. Although the service is missing some notable titles, and its technical capabilities aren't up to par with top competitors, horror fans should still consider venturing into Shudder's vast forest, even if just for a month or two.
What Can You Watch on Shudder?
Shudder's catalog is for fans of scares and thrills. Previously, Shudder let you browse its titles without requiring you to sign up for the service. Now, you must sign up for a free, seven-day trial if you want to check out the movie selection without paying.
If you're not well-versed in the horror genre, Shudder highlights helpful collections to get you started. The Shudder Essential collection, for example, includes nearly 30 films, such as Children of the Corn, The Hills Have Eyes, Night of the Living Dead, Phantasm, Ring (a.k.a. Ringu), and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, along with some Shudder Originals. Additional collections include A Good Scare, Horror Noire, Queer Horror, Only On Shudder, and Vengeance is Hers. Shudder is also a destination for original productions and exclusives.
The service's original movies include 0.0 MHz; An Unquiet Grave; Belzebuth; Deadtectives; Gwen, Host; Martyrs Lane; Primal Screen; Revenge; The Mortuary Collector; The Ranger; The Room; and The Witch Window. Exclusive films include Daniel Isn't Real, In Search of Darkness, Mandy, Prevenge, Sadako vs Kayako, Sam Was Here, and Scream, Queen!
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Unfortunately, Shudder has some major omissions. Some notable horror and thriller films you won't find here are Alien; Child's Play; Jaws; Psycho; Rosemary's Baby; movies based on Stephen King stories, such as The Mist or The Shining; The Witch; Saw, any entries in The Evil Dead series; The Exorcist (although Exorcist III is available); The Fly; or The Thing.
Some people may consider the above titles indispensable, but others may think they fall outside a narrower definition of horror. In any case, if you can't find the show or movie you want to watch, Shudder encourages you to request it. If you are looking for more ideas of what to watch, check out our roundup of the best horror films you can watch on video streaming services.
Horror and suspense fans do have other options if those omissions are deal-breakers. For example, many classic Hitchcock films are available on Peacock. Other movie streaming services, including the Criterion Channel, have a better selection of genre classics. Shout Factory TV has a bunch of schlock for free. Apple TV+ has the family-friendly Halloween classic It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
Apart from movies, Shudder also offers a smaller collection of TV shows. Its original titles include A Discovery of Witches, Creepshow, Cursed Films, Deadhouse Dark, Deadwax, The Core, and The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs.
Shudder also produces a series of original podcast experiences, such as Eli Roth's History of Horror: Uncut, Horror Noire: Uncut, She Kills, and Video Palace. In addition, Shudder is the exclusive home of other shows including Angelby, Channel Zero, Etheria, NOS4A2, and The Walking Dead: World Beyond. For more horror shows, visit our roundup of the best original horror shows.
Video Streaming Services: What You Should Know
How Much Does Shudder Cost?
Shudder costs $5.99 per month, but you can save money by opting for the $56.99-per-year annual plan. Signing up for Shudder is simple; all you need to do is provide an email address, password, and payment details. Shudder offers a seven-day, free trial, but requires you to add a credit card on file. This is standard practice with most video streaming services. You can also gain access to Shudder as part of the AMC+ bundle for $8.99 per month. The bundle includes content from AMC, BBC America, IFC, and SundanceTV.
At $4.99 per month, Paramount+'s ad-supported plan comes in lower than Shudder's price, and it offers a far more mainstream collection of streaming content. Unlike that service, however, Shudder presents its content without ads. Apple TV+ also undercuts Shudder's price and only charges $4.99 per month with no ads.
Other on-demand video streaming services are more expensive. For example, Disney+ and Hulu (with ads) both cost $7.99 per month, while Amazon Prime Video costs $8.99 per month. Netflix's Standard tier (the minimum tier we recommend) and HBO Max are even more expensive at $15.49 and $14.99 per month, respectively. All these services offer far more shows, movies, and original series with a broader appeal than Shudder, however.
Shudder is a good value, depending on two things: whether you like horror and suspense movies, and whether you like the ones that Shudder offers. After all, it is missing quite a few classic horror and suspense movies. However, if you just want to use it during the Halloween season or frequently watch horror movies for fun, then Shudder may be worth the cost—especially given its low cost.
If you don't want to spend anything on your video streaming entertainment, check out our roundup of the best free video streaming services. Our top pick for the category is NBC's Peacock, but other options, such as Crackle and Tubi, have decent film collections.
You can download the Shudder app on Android and iOS devices; Chromecast devices; select smart TVs; Roku and Fire TV streaming devices; and the Xbox. You can also watch Shudder via a web browser. Missing from this list are Nintendo and PlayStation consoles. In addition to the US, Shudder is available in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, and the UK.
Web Interface
Shudder's web interface uses a black, white, and red color scheme befitting its content. You navigate the interface via the Collections, Movies, Series, My List, and Search menu items at the top of the screen. The My List section allows you to organize collections of movies and shows into a single place. To add a title, just mouse over it and click the My List button. Unfortunately, there's no way to sort the content you add to this list (Shudder organizes titles by reverse chronological order). The search works fine for finding specific entries in Shudder's catalog, but the tool does not support searches by director, description, or subgenre. The My Account area only offers basic functionality. Here, you can edit your account email address, reset your password, create a display name, and update billing information.
We appreciate Shudder's subtle horror-themed interface effects; for example, if you mouse over the Movies or Series categories, the menu items shake back and forth. If you try to play some content without signing in, Shudder informs you that "It seems you're not one of us…yet." If you reset your password, Shudder sends an email with the subject line, "A Special Invitation…To Reset your Password."
Shudder's homepage highlights some featured content in a large horizontally sliding gallery. You can directly play titles or add them to the My List section. The Collections section organizes films across broader categories, including Horror 101, Subgenres, Borderlands, and Guest Spotlights (movie picks from celebrity-types important to the genre). The Movies section features a helpful selection tool, which breaks titles down by genres (such as cult, psychological thriller, paranormal, revenge, sci-fi, and supernatural) and lets you sort by what's newly added. We wish that the site-wide search captured these genre types. The Series section is much more manageable, but we still would have liked to see some options for filtering the list, especially given that Shudder organizes both TV shows and podcasts in this same section.
If you see a movie or series you want to watch, click on the description to get more information or directly on the thumbnail to launch the player. Landing pages for shows and movies show basic information (MPAA rating, language, runtime), expanded descriptions, a skull rating (subscribers can rate content on a scale of up to five skulls), and a trailer option if available. You can view related content and other member's reviews of the title. We really like that Shudder includes user reviews, which gives the service a bit of personality, though the quality of said reviews will vary. Mubi also allows users to leave reviews.
The last section, Shudder TV, shows a constant stream of horror movies in a few separate themes. Channels include It Came From Shudder, Psychological Horror, and Slashics.
Shudder on Mobile
Shudder offers Android and iOS apps. We tested the mobile experience on a Google Pixel phone, and had no trouble logging in to the account. The account section in the app is fairly useless. You can only view your associated username and email account, but not change anything. The Shudder app performed without issue in testing, though we noticed some lag and longer loading times when launching content or scrubbing through it. You get some of the same campy effects in the app as on the web. Instead of loading icons, for example, you watch the Shudder logo shake back and forth.
The mobile apps use the same style and color scheme as the web interface. You navigate via four icons on the bottom of the screen: Featured, Shudder TV, Collections, and Browse. The My List content lives under the Featured section. The rest of the categories show the same content as Shudder's web version. The search bar lives in the upper-right-hand side of the interface. Unfortunately, the now-playing screen does not offer any options to change or even see the playback resolution. There is a CC toggle, however.
Note that you cannot download titles for offline viewing, which is problematic for all those times you get stranded somewhere out in the woods or stuck in an abandoned house with no connection. HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, Showtime, and Starz all offer at least some offline download capability.
Performance and Playback Experience
As mentioned, not all Shudder's content is available in 1080p. Some older content may simply not be available in higher resolutions, so we can't entirely fault Shudder. We did notice some content was capped to 480p, which is less than ideal. All the original series we launched had a 1080p option. Most other on-demand video streaming services offer at least 1080p streams, while some, such as Netflix and Prime Video, offer shows in 4K. Again, we appreciate that Shudder does not throw in any ads, not even the pre-roll ones that services like Amazon and HBO use to advertise their content.
Shudder says it requires internet connection speeds (download) of at least 6Mbps. In testing, Shudder titles ramped up to full quality quickly after they finished loading. You get typical playback and volume controls, a 10-second Rewind button (but no fast-forward button), and a progress bar for playback. Audio sounded clear in our testing as well, which is a must for the genre.
For reference, we tested Shudder's desktop streaming performance with a Wi-Fi connection rated at 64Mbps (download) through a VPN and a Wi-Fi connection on mobile with speeds of 165Mbps (download). On the desktop, we streamed the first episode of A Discovery of Witches without any issues. We successfully resumed playback on mobile partway through the film.
Accessibility and Parental Controls
Shudder provides basic closed-caption options with all the content we tried, though you can't change the appearance or size of the text. You also won't find anything similar to the Audio Descriptions feature that Apple TV+, Netflix, and Prime Video provide. Essentially, this option adds vocal narration to the scene to describe settings and character movements that can't be surmised from just the character dialogue.
Shudder lacks parental control features. Though the content ratings for most of its content are prohibitive to younger audiences, some parents might want to let their children watch certain films on the platform. Older films or certain genres may be less violent or otherwise permissible given their classic status in cinema history. HBO Max, Netflix, and Prime Video provide robust parental control options. In a similar vein, Shudder should also add the ability to create separate user profiles for family members.
Shudder and VPN
Your ISP is the real monster when it comes to invading your privacy. You can hide your traffic from it by using a VPN to connect to the internet. Many video streaming services prevent you from using a VPN to stream content, since your location may determine what content is available to you.
Shudder worked fine with the VPN we tried. We streamed content both via a desktop web browser and from our mobile devices after we connected to a US-based Mullvad VPN server. Even if you find a VPN that works with your service now, it may not work in the future. It is common for video streaming services to actively shut down VPN traffic to their sites. We recommend that you choose a VPN based on its privacy policy, security, and speed, rather than on which video steaming services support it.
Video Streaming Services: What You Should Know
Horror Fest
If you are a fan of horror or suspense, don't fear Shudder. The service presents a good collection of movies, TV shows, and original productions in an attractive interface across several platforms without ads. For all its charm, Shudder is missing some classic horror and thriller movies, and you can't download individual titles to stream offline.
Netflix is our Editors' Choice pick for video streaming services, while Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV are our top choices for streaming live TV.
For more on streaming, check out five reasons why you may want to ditch your video subscription and keep cable, read how streaming has ushered in a new trash TV golden age, and learn why companies must preserve their streaming catalogs. Finally, check out our recommended streaming video guides if you don't know what to watch.
Ben Moore also contributed to this review.
Horror-themed streaming service Shudder is a scary good deal for genre fans, but it doesn't offer enough popular content or features to bewitch the masses.
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